City of Health 4 years behind schedule

The future of the City of Health t in Ancón is up in the air. A flagship project of the Ricardo Martinelli administration and once cited to carry his name, it has staggered from crisis to crisis with massive cost overruns and is four years behind schedule.

Now the Social Security Fund (CSS) is evaluating the contractual effects of terminating the contract and what it would imply for the institution.

The Consorcio Construcciones Hospitalarias, SA (which is part of FCC Construcción and FCC Construcción de Centroamérica), in charge of the work, has not met the delivery dates of the first and second phases says the CSS. The first phase, includes the institutes of Cardiology, and Nephrology, among other facilities, should have been delivered during the month of April, according to the schedule agreed in 2018.

Meanwhile, the second phase, which integrates the general adult hospitalization area, the surgical block, the intensive care units, the genetics laboratory and the auditorium, was not delivered on the scheduled date, which was November 4, 2019,

The CSS said that the consortium has not presented a new delivery schedule for the works, so it is in default.

The project began in May 2012 and was to be ready in May 2015 and advanced 65%, only 2% higher than that reported by the CSS in December last year.

The CSS already disbursed $323.5 million of the $554.2 million of the predicted cost. This figure includes an addendum of $36.7 million approved in 2017 to make requested changes to the work.

After assuming the position as director of the CSS, Enrique Lau Cortés said d that "the strategic objective of the new administration is to terminate the City of Health as soon as possible and put it at the service of the insured."

Lau Cortes said then that they will have a specialized team at the project site, to monitor day-to-day progress and compliance with the agreements agreed with the consortium.